A better Food & Farm Bill - now!

Apr 19, 2012
by Pesticide Action Network

Congress is hard at work writing the 2012 Farm Bill, and people across the country are calling for food and farming policy that creates jobs, invests in farmers and ensures healthy food is widely available.

Farm Bills happen twice a decade, and they are a confusing mess every time. But you don’t need to be an expert to understand that we deserve a Food and Farm Bill that uses tax-payer moneys wisely — not to prop up a bloated and broken model of industrial agriculture, but to support food and farming systems that feed the future.

Next steps

The Senate Agriculture Committee is on track to meet its timeline for marking up a Farm Bill later this month, and the next two weeks are critical in the multi-step process.

The Chairwoman plans to release her draft – or "mark" – potentially as early as the end of next week. And before she does so, Senators on the Agriculture Committee will meet privately to view the draft and voice their priorities and concerns. Depending on how that meeting goes, and whether there is general buy-in for the contours of the bill, a draft Farm Bill may be released as early as late next week.

We are following the process closely, and will keep you updated along the way. Stay tuned!